REFLECTIONS ABOUT A SWISS EXILE LITERATURE: ANNEMARIE SCHWARZENBACH

Abstract

The literary work of Annemarie Schwarzenbach is part of the German Swiss literature from the interwar period. The novel Das glückliche Tal (1940) has been considered by Rohlf (2002) as an example of exile literature although it was not written in exile. The objective of this essay is to determine, to what extent the notion of ”exile literature“ can be applied to this and other works of Schwarzenbach. It develops the concepts of the antifascist literature about exile, the motif of the exiled and the wandering traveller, as well as the metaphor of exile. Reading the novels Flucht nach oben and Tod in Persien and the short stories “Das gelobte Land“, “Verklärtes Europa“, “Sehr viel Geduld...“ and ”Drei Tage Morgendämmerung“ under the scope of exile, one arrives at the conclusion that the literal concepts of exile are fading in light of a more metaphorical sense of exile. The essay ascertains that the designation of Swiss exile literature is only applicable if we situate every work in the historical context of its aesthetics and its testimonial value.